Lab: Testing toStringWithCommas With JUnit

Objective

Your goal for this lab is to expose the defects in several implementations of the NaturalNumber static method toStringWithCommas.

Setup

For this assignment you need to import a jar archive. Download the file NNtoStringWithCommas.jar and save it on your local disk. Now follow these steps to set up a project for this lab.

1. Create a new Eclipse project by copying ProjectTemplate. Name the new project TestingToStringWithCommas. You will not need any of the source files in the src folder.
2. Instead import the jar archive you downloaded into the lib folder of this project by following these steps:
   1. Right click on the lib folder in the Package Explorer view and select Import... from the pop-up menu;
   2. Select General > File System and click Next;
   3. In the From directory enter the location on the local disk drive of the file you downloaded earlier;
   4. In the list of files check the check-mark next to NNtoStringWithCommas.jar and make sure that the Into folder box shows TestingToStringWithCommas/lib, then click Finish.
3. Finally, in the Package Explorer expand the lib folder, right-click on the NNtoStringWithCommas.jar file, and select Build Path > Add to Build Path. You should double check that NNtoStringWithCommas.jar is now listed under Referenced Libraries in your project.

Method

1. Start by creating a new JUnit test fixture and call it NNtoStringWithCommasTest (see the last lab for details). Make sure you put the test fixture in the test folder and for the class under test use NNtoStringWithCommas1. This is the one correct implementation of toStringWithCommas provided in the NNtoStringWithCommas.jar archive.
2. Open the NNtoStringWithCommasTest.java file in the test folder and copy and paste the following method into it: In your test cases, you should call this method instead of calling directly the method under test (e.g., NNtoStringWithCommas1.toStringWithCommas). This way you can replace the implementation under test by simply changing the name of the class in the body of the method above. This is an example of the application of a fundamental principle in software design known as single point of control over change. The idea is to design software so that a change in a design decision can be effected by a change in a single place in the code.
3. Copy and paste to the test fixture the test cases you designed for today's homework.
4. Once you have entered all your test cases and the test fixture compiles, run it (see the last lab for details). All the test cases should pass because the implementation of toStringWithCommas in NNtoStringWithCommas1 is correct. If any test cases fail, that indicates a bug in the test case code. Fix all the test cases before moving on to the next step.

There are five more classes implementing toStringWithCommas in the NNtoStringWithCommas.jar archive and they are named NNtoStringWithCommas2, NNtoStringWithCommas3, NNtoStringWithCommas4, NNtoStringWithCommas5, and NNtoStringWithCommas6. They all have at least one bug.

5. Test the first defective implementation by replacing NNtoStringWithCommas1 with NNtoStringWithCommas2 in the body of the private method redirectToMethodUnderTest and running the test fixture.
   • If any of the test cases fail, record the input(s) and the observed output(s) on a sheet of paper and move on to the next implementation.
   • If none of your test cases fail, that indicates that your test fixture can and should be improved. Think of situations you have not considered in your current test plan and add one or more new test cases. Rerun the test fixture. Repeat until you find a test case that breaks the implementation.
6. If you get stuck on one implementation you cannot break, feel free to try your test fixture on the other implementations and come back to this one later on. However, the goal for this lab is to find at least one test case for each defective implementation that shows the presence of a bug.
7. Once you believe you have broken every implementation, call an instructor to show the test cases you identified to break each implementation.

Additional Activities

Now that you have a test plan (and JUnit test fixture) for toStringWithCommas, it would be a good exercise to use it to test your own implementation of this method from an earlier lab.

1. In the Package Explorer view, copy the file NaturalNumberStaticOps.java from the src folder in the RecursionOnNaturalNumber1 project and paste it into the src folder of this project.
2. If you already implemented toStringWithCommas as part of the Additional Activities of the earlier lab, just move to the next step. Otherwise provide an implementation for the method now.
3. Replace the call to toStringWithCommas in redirectToMethodUnderTest with a call to your implementation in NaturalNumberStaticOps and run the JUnit test fixture. Fix any defects you discover until your implementation passes all the tests.
4. How confident are you that you have a correct implementation of toStringWithCommas? Justify your answer.